While the offense has struggled, the Orioles have continued to win

You have to wonder how much longer the Orioles can count on their pitching to carry them.

They are not scoring many runs but have continued to win and lead the American League East by 2 1/2 games with Toronto’s loss last night.

In the last 20 games, 12 times the Orioles have scored three or fewer runs. They are batting just .213 in those games and scoring 3.2 runs per game. Yet they are 12-8 in that stretch due to strong pitching.

Maybe that goes to show that pitching is every bit as important as we think it is. The Orioles’ offense has hit the skids and the team has gained four games on .500.

The Orioles have won four of their last five series and are tied 1-1 in their current series without scoring a lot of runs.

* O’s went 2-1 scoring six runs in three games against New York.
* O’s went 1-2 scoring 14 runs in three games at Oakland.
* O’s went 2-1 scoring 10 runs in three games in Anaheim.
* O’s went 3-1 scoring 12 runs in four games at Seattle.
* O’s went 2-1 scoring 11 runs in three games at home versus Los Angeles.
* O’s are 1-1 scoring five runs in two games at home versus Seattle.

The Orioles basically have one hot hitter right now and that is Manny Machado. You could say Buck Showalter should make some changes, but there are not many to make to jump start this offense right now. Some of the guys that play every night need to start getting some hits.

Machado is 6-for-9 with two doubles in the Seattle series. Over his last 19 games, he’s batting .372 with six doubles, four homers and 11 RBIs.

But Nelson Cruz is 1-for-25, Chris Davis is 13-for-97, Adam Jones is 8-for-46, Steve Pearce is 4-for-34, Nick Markakis is 10-for-63 and Jonathan Schoop is 10-for-68.

Who would have thought the Orioles would rank higher in the AL in ERA (fifth) than in runs scored (seventh)?

The Orioles averaged 4.6 runs per game last season and are at 4.2 this year.